At a time of increasing skepticism that businesses can be both successful and ethical, 17 companies, which between them accounted for almost $1 trillion in global sales, came together as the charter members of the Business Ethics Leadership Alliance (BELA). Formed in December 2008, the founding members represented a wide range of industries, including retail, airlines, financial services, and computers. Some of the names may be familiar to you: 

• Accenture 

• Avaya 

• CACI International 

• Crawford 

• Dell 

• Dun & Bradstreet 

• Ecolab 

• Fluor 

• General Electric Working with the Ethisphere Institute, an international think tank that dedicates itself to “the creation, advancement and sharing of best practices in business ethics, corporate social responsibility, anti-corruption, and sustainability,” BELA appears to take a very clear position and invites public and private companies to join it in making an explicit pledge to four core values: (1) legal compliance, (2) transparency, (3) identification of conflicts of interest, and (4) accountability.

 Responding to a situation where “through the cacophony of media stories, political finger-pointing, infuriating reports of greed, and compelling stories of hardship, the business community as a whole has been characterized as a barrel full of bad apples that have the ability to spoil the global economy,” the alliance members present themselves as “a growing quorum made up of some of the world’s most recognizable companies joining together to affirm an unequivocal dedication to business ethics.”

 In addition, they see it as their responsibility to “reestablish ethics as the foundation of everyday business practices. Response to the new alliance was mixed. Optimists appeared to see this new organization as a step in the right direction, arguing that “a public so badly burned by ethical shortcomings in so many American companies will be cynical for years to come, but BELA is to be applauded for trying to turn the situation around.” There were certainly some large companies getting involved —Walmart, GE, Dell, and PepsiCo—and they appeared to be committing to specific changes in their business practices that directly correlated to many of the ethical problems identified at companies such as Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, and many others. However, many cynics saw this as just a public relations exercise for companies that had their own business practices brought into question in the past and were seeking redemption through a commitment to a new ethical philosophy. For example, Walmart paid $11 million to the Department of Justice in settlement of a case involving the hiring of illegal immigrants by its cleaning contractors in 2005. Other class-action suits are pending against the world’s largest retailer. In 2006, Sempra Energy agreed to pay more than $377 million in response to allegations of manipulation of the price of natural gas during the 2001 California energy crisis. Since its founding, the face of BELA has changed dramatically. Membership has grown, though a couple of prominent charter members have left, and the format now focuses on key products: 

• The Ethics Quotient, a 125+ question survey “based on Ethisphere’s proprietary methodology,” that enables members to benchmark their programs and practices. 

• The World’s Most Ethical Companies award that recognizes performance in three areas—“promoting ethical business standards and practices internally, enabling managers and employees to make good choices, and shaping future industry standards by introducing tomorrow’s best practices today.” 

• Compliance Certification Programs—offering “an independent validation of your current program and efforts. 

Do you think it was a good idea to welcome founding members with such widely publicized ethical transgressions in their past? Why or why not? Are the three key products enough to establish a credible reputation as an ethical company? What other options would you consider adding and why?